GEORGE “JORJ95” LIND III WINS SCOOP PLAYER OF THE SERIES

Ryan “toetagu” Fair may have made the headlines Monday by winning the $10,000 buy-in Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) High Main Event at PokerStars for over $1.1 million, but it was George “Jorj95” Lind III who was the star of the entire poker series.  At the close of the two week long string of tournaments, Lind stood alone atop the SCOOP leader board, thus earning the title SCOOP Player of the Series.
With 480 points, Lind narrowly edged out fellow American “teacuppoker” by 40 points, a margin essentially equivalent to a final table finish.  Finland’s “villepn” was the only other player with at least 400 points, finishing with 405.  PokerStars awarded SCOOP leader board points to each player who cashed in a SCOOP event, regardless of whether the tournament was at the high, mid, or low stakes level.  Every event winner received 100 points and from there, point structures varied depending on the number of players per table in the tournament.  Typically, points decreased to around 20 points for 16th or so, while in most tournaments (heads-up and shootouts were the exceptions), the remainder of the players in the money were split into three tiers that received 15, 10, or 5 points.
Lind led all SCOOP players with an incredible 27 cashes, though he ranked just 111th in total prize money, amassing $105,127.12 in winnings (not that winning over $100K is anything to scoff at).  The primary reason for the discrepancy between the number of cashes and actually winnings is likely Lind’s tournament selection.  Seven of his cashes were in high stakes events, nine were in medium stakes events, and eleven were in low stakes events.  Before 2010, Lind had only cashed in one SCOOP event.  His 28 total ranks 4th all time; teacuppoker ranks 1st all time with 37 and villepn ranks 3rd all time with 29.
Lind’s accomplishment comes with more than just a nice title.  He will receive a Player of the Series trophy, free seat in the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), a 2011 PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure (PCA) prize package, a 2011 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo prize package, and a Special Edition PokerStars poker chip set.  teacuppoker will also get the 2010 WCOOP Main Event ticket, the 2011 PCA prize package, and the chip set, while villepn will receive the 2010 WCOOP Main Event spot and the chip set.
George Lind has a history of racking up numbers at PokerStars.  He became the first player to achieve Supernova Elite status on the world’s largest poker room in 2008, accomplishing the feat on March 18th.  That’s amazingly fast as it is, but he didn’t even play his first hand until January 13th.  By the end of the year, he had earned 3 million VPPs, three times the amount needed to earn Supernova Elite status.  For those VPPs, he received 15 million FPPs, enough to purchase five Porsches from the PokerStaras VIP store.
This year, Lind once again became the first player to reach Supernova Elite on PokerStars, doing so within the first three months of 2010.  He estimates that he will earn 4 million VPPs by the end of the year.